


Interview with a Lord

by TerraXIII



Series: The story of Zack and Aerith [4]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:01:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25336558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerraXIII/pseuds/TerraXIII
Summary: Parts of Zack's new life slowly start falling into place. First, a place to call his own, and next, a job. Gonna need money for that date wither Aerith after all, right?
Relationships: Aerith/Zack (Kingdom Hearts), Zack Fair/Aerith Gainsborough
Series: The story of Zack and Aerith [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1720729
Kudos: 3





	Interview with a Lord

_“No story is not worth hearing” – Angeal_

“Come on, pup, your room is this way,” Angeal said as he walked up the creaky wooden steps of his house. Aerith had left the two men alone and it was time for Zack to see where he would be sleeping and living. Outlines of pictures could be seen on the walls, reminders of a time when the pictures themselves had hung there. The upper floors were as dirty and as dusty as the first floor of the house. How someone could live like this, Zack could never know. He kept his tongue though, not wanting to offend the man who had opened his house to him.

Arriving at the end of the hall, Angeal opened a door to their left, revealing a dimly lit bedroom with a single person bed. A pillow and yellow sheets had been folded and set on the bed, ready to be laid out. A small wooden desk with drawers going down the whole left side sat opposite of the bed with a wooden chair pushed into it. Light seeped in from the dirty and dusty window that looked out over a small backyard that had become overgrown with weeds.

“You can furnish it and clean it up on your own time, pup. I’m not your mother so don’t expect me to clean up after you or cook for you. You’re old enough, you should know how to do these things,” Angeal said from the doorway as he watched Zack enter the medium-sized room, moving to the desk and looking at the candle that sat upon it.

“Thanks, I appreciate it,” Zack said, before going back to looking around the room, seeing what needed to be done to make it look nice. “And please don’t call me a pup.”

“Huh,” Angeal said with a chuckle, “we’ll see. I’ll have dinner ready in a bit, so feel free to get cleaned up and come down. The bathroom is across the hall.”

Zack nodded an acknowledgment towards his host before the older man left the doorway and made his way back down the hall and the stairs. Zack ran a hand across the desk, noticing the layer of dust that rested on the piece of wood. The young man had a lost look in his eyes as if he was deep in thought. A lot had happened over the past few days and he had felt like he was just dragged along for the ride. Brushing the dust off his hand, he started opening the drawers of the desk, wondering if they held anything. In the very bottom drawer, he found a small notebook alongside a pen. Pulling the items out, Zack set them on the desk before pulling the chair out.

Zack sat down in the chair and started flipping through the notebook, finding its contents blank.

“Guess maybe I should keep a journal of everything that’s happened so far, in case I lose my memories again. Maybe I’ll even remember some stuff,” he said as he began to write down the previous days’ events onto paper.

“Hey, pup! Dinner’s ready!” Angeal called from the kitchen as he set two plates down on the circular wooden table. The kitchen was a decently sized room with a stovetop that doubled as an oven underneath. A rectangular metal sink sat on the other side of the kitchen with the table sitting in the middle of the room on a dirty ornate rug. Zack walked into the room and saw the food that had been placed on the table.

“Uh, thanks,” he said, as he walked over to the table and sat down. The plate had a steak on it with some darkened parts. Mashed potatoes accompanied the overcooked meat, looking like they were more liquidy than most mashed potatoes. Zack tried the green beans that were on his plate before gulping the cold vegetables down. Guess he did need to take over cooking after all. He continued eating his dinner in relative silence, the only sound being that of their silverware hitting the plate.

“So, if you’re gonna live here, you’re gonna need to pull your weight. That’s why I reached out to an old friend at the castle. He's gonna try and get you an interview for a position there,” Angeal said as he continued eating his dinner casually. “Pay is decent and gets you munny for your date with Aerith.”

“It’s not a date!” Zack exclaimed, a blush coming over his cheeks before he put his hand up and looked away, trying to hide his embarrassment. “I’m just, paying her back for everything she’s done for me.”

“Ha, well you’re gonna need munny to do that, and unless you’re a millionaire and not telling me, then you’re gonna need a job,” Angeal pointed out, using his knife to point at the youth.

Zack sighed and looked down at his plate, seeing the logic in his elder's words.

“And besides, you’re the one that called it a date,” Angeal said with a smirk and continued eating his meal. And with that, Zack had no counterargument as he resumed his dinner.

_The next day…_

Zack and Angeal arrived in Central Square and started their way up the steps of the castle.

“So, Angeal, who is this friend of yours that we're going to see?” Zack panted as he kept walking up the steep incline of stairs.

“You’ll see when we get there. And make sure to show some respect, don’t need you embarrassing me in front of them,” the older man said. The two continued up the steps, panting, as they finally reached the top. Before them was a small stone courtyard, and at one end, the castle stood with large double doors facing them. Two men stood on either side of the door, one of them holding a spear, the other an ax. Angeal walked confidently up to the pair and looked between them. “Dilan, Aeleus. Good to see you, boys, again.”

“Mister Angeal, sir!” Dilan exclaimed in shock before saluting the older man, Dilan's dreadlocks shaking behind his head slightly. “It’s good to see you again, sir.”

“Ah stop with the saluting, I’m not your superior officer anymore. I’m just a normal citizen,” Angeal said with a warm smile. Aeleus simply nodded his reply, still saluting the man before him. “We’re here to get this puppy an interview. You boys mind letting us through?” Angeal continued with a pointed thumb towards Zack.

“Of course, sir. Please don't let us stop you,” Dilan said as he pushed a normal-sized door open. The larger door didn’t even seem to budge, at least in Zack's eyes.

“Thank ya, boys. And remember what I taught ya,” Angeal said as he walked past the two men casually, Zack slowly following his lead noticing the difference in size between him and the two guards. Once they were inside, the door was closed behind them and Zack quickly caught up with his elder.

“I take it you know them?” Zack casually asked as he kept looking back the way they had come.

“Course. I trained them after all before I retired. Didn’t Aerith tell ya?”

“She said you use to be a castle guard once, and that you fought against the Heartless when they invaded.”

Angeal scoffed, “Like I did anything. The world still fell and our people were scattered.”

“Did you use that big sword I saw? The one with two holes near the hilt?”

“Nah, that thing’s a family heirloom. Been with my family for generations, so it’s more like a trinket.”

“What do you mean?”

“According to my grandfather, long ago only two swords of that type were made. One was given to my family as a gift, the other was given to another family. Supposedly the one that was gifted to that family was cursed, and that the owners would constantly face the embodiment of their darkness. But during the fire a way back, the sword was lost, so now there's no telling where it is.”

“So, you don’t know if it was cursed?”

“Pup,” Angeal paused. “There’s only one curse I believe in and it has nothing to do with that lost sword,” he said as they arrived outside another pair of double doors, this time human-sized. Angeal knocked on the doors and waited.

“Come in,” a voice said from the other side of the doors. Angeal opened one of the doors and walked in, Zack following. They both arrived in a circular room with small bookshelves ringing the wall in front of them. A wooden desk with two chairs on their side sat in the middle of the room, with an older man sitting behind the desk. The other man's orange eyes seemed to smile as he saw who had entered his study. “Angeal, my old friend. Good to see you.”

“Good to see you as well, old friend,” Angeal said, walking towards the desk as the other man stood up and walked around it, embracing his counterpart in a hug.

“I was quite surprised to hear from you. Especially asking for a job,” the blonde-haired man said as he put a hand on his friend's shoulder.

“The job’s not for me, old friend. It’s for the pup here.” Angeal turned and looked at Zack, waving him over. “Ansem, this is Zack. He's the one Aerith found in Central Square. Figured if he was gonna live with me, he should have a job of some kind.”

“I see. It's nice to meet you, young man. My name is Ansem. Ansem the Wise as my people like to call me,” Ansem said as he extended a hand towards Zack. Zack graciously shook the man's hand.

“Nice to meet you, sir,” Zack said.

“Please have a seat, I'll have Even bring us some tea,” Ansem said as he moved to sit down in his large chair behind the desk.

“Naw, don’t worry about it. We won’t be here long. Like I said earlier, just here to see about getting the pup here a job.” Angeal sat down in one of the chairs across from Ansem, while Zack sat in the other.

“Well, he does look very capable. Tell me, young man, do you have job experience?” Ansem asked, his eyes turning to Zack.

“I honestly can’t remember, sir. I don’t remember anything before waking up here in your world.”

“Aerith and Merlin believe he's from another world.” Angeal clarified.

“I see. Hmm.” Ansem stroked his goatee briefly as he looked his youngest guest over. “Well, we do have a position open for a guard. We'd have to get him a weapon though.”

“That should be the easy part, still have the armory that Merlin enchanted for ya,” Angeal said as he leaned back in his chair.

“That's true.” Ansem paused momentarily. “Very well, you'll be working as one of our guards here, young man. You start tomorrow. Dilan will get you set up with a weapon and training. Are you alright with that?”

Zack gulped and nodded, sitting up straighter. “Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.”

Ansem smiled and nodded, as Angeal turned and patted Zack on the back. “Looks like you'll have munny for that date after all. Huh, pup?”

“Angeal…” Zack hissed, feeling embarrassed in front of Ansem, causing the lord and his friend to laugh at the young man.


End file.
